I land on my feet this time.
But it doesn't feel normal now. I can hear the disrupted quiet outside the door, and it both comforts me yet worries me.
With a sigh I make my way to the door. I turn the handle and become aware of the energy in the air. It's tense and unpleasant. Yep, this is the Omega compound. I step out into the hallway and follow the trail of stress down the hallways. I finally hear a female voice yelling, "You said Thursday! Thursday, Flame."
I stop walking and hear him say irritatedly, "Well it's not my choice. I'm sorry Nix but—"
"You aren't sorry. If you were you'd tell X no. You can't leave right now. He's pushing this too far and too fast," she pauses, "Are you evening listening to me?"
I hear Flame slap what sounds like a half full bag, "The team will leave without me."
"Then let them."
He scoffs, "I promised you," he pauses, "I promised you I would get them back for what they did. Not just to Willow, but to the people who survived to talk about it. Have you heard their stories? Did you hear what the Raven did to them?"
"Look what they're doing to you!" the girl shouts. "Flame, Willow didn't want this for you. She loved you the way you were, not the person you've become."
"I haven't become anything!" Flame argues. "Her death just skinned off the last of my remorse for the Raven."
"You sure?"
"Yes, Nix, I'm sure—"
"You sure that wasn't gone long ago?"
Flame pauses for an unnatural amount of time before saying softly, "I don't care what happened to me back then. I'm gotten over that long ago." I get chills from the tension in his voice. "I don't want Willow's death to mean nothing. I'm trying to do something, what are you doing?"
I hear shuffling and I sneak behind the wall of the intersection and hear Flame's steps walk away. I peek around and see he's holding a duffle bag in his left hand.
I hear the girl in the room curse and she steps out. It's too late for me to hide again. She spots me and her face grimaces, "Zoe, right?"
I nod.
She runs her fingers through her reddish, dark brown hair that hangs heavily to the right side of her face. The left side is shaved close to her scalp. She fixes her glasses and asks, "If I recall, you're Vision's daughter, yes?" I nod. She steps more out of the room and leans on the wall, "I'm guessing you heard all of that then."
"A little."
She smirks solemnly. "I'm Nix, nice to meet you."
I start to walk up to her, "What's going on with Flame?"
She frowns, "Did he not tell your group about his little trip?"
"He did, but he's supposed to leave Thursday," I don't want her to think I was listening to that much of their conversation.
"Mr. X decided he was going to send them out tonight, and have an extended trip time. They won't be back for two weeks."
I didn't hear that part. "Two weeks?"
"I swear he's crazy."
I look down the hallway Flame went down. "What could they possibly need to talk about for two weeks?"
She sighs, "He told you that?"
"I figure there's more to the story."
"You don't even know kid," she shakes her head and crosses her arms, "You don't even know."
Just by her expression, I know that Raven is getting stronger, and Flame is going to fight them with Mole because X wants them too. But for more than that. Flame wants to avenge his friend's death, Willow. She died the day I sprained my ankle and it healed magically. Nix is her younger sister, the one I remember Flame cradling because she was so unconsolable. Willow died on a mission against the Raven. That means we've been in a secret war for two months now and we didn't even know. Great, more surprises. Next thing you know I'll see John again.
"I guess I don't know," I reply.
"Do me a favor, Zoe. Go get your group and go say goodbye to Flame. Maybe he'll stay if he has four kids he cares about wishing he wouldn't leave. If not, then you'll be able to say goodbye and you won't see your trainer for two weeks."
I nod my head and Nix smiles, "You remind me of your mom."
"I've been told that."
"Now go find your friends. They should be in the arena watching the fight for today."
"Thanks," I start to head off but Nix stops me.
"Why aren't you there?" she raises an eyebrow.
"Oh I uh...I had stuff to do."
Nix smirks, "You don't like the battles either, do you?"
I shake my head just to get this conversation over with.
"My room is always open," she points to the room behind her saying, "Although this one is Flame's room. Mine's a little down the hall."
I laugh, "Okay, thank you."
She nods, "Go find your friends."
I back out of the hallway and start heading the direction I think the arena is. I guess right and soon I hear crowds cheering and sounds of battle. I get to the doors and rest my hand on the handle.
When I turn it and open the door, someone's hand slams is shut from behind me. I yelp and back into him. I whip my head around and see Jack's face inches away from mine. His breath smells like cigarettes mixed with alcohol.
"Hiya Zoe," he says with a smile.
I duck and move away from him, "Hello Jack, haven't seen you in awhile."
"I've been busy."
I slowly start to back away, hoping I'll find someone. "Busy how?"
"With a lot of things," he starts walking towards me, "like training and fighting," he takes a few more steps, "learning, watching."
"That's cool," I say in a shaky voice.
"I have a few questions to ask you," he wiggles a finger at me.
"Like?"
"Like what other perks you got from being the daughter of Vision."
Chills run down my spine and I feel my stomach drop, "What d-do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean," he replies sternly. Jack sounds like he's a little more than tipsy. "X let you in because your mother, Vision went here."
"And?"
"And I don't think it's very fair," he continues to walk towards me, "Kids like you always get the special treatment. Having family that went here makes you look better and more creditable to Mr. X, and I want that."
"Then stay a good student, and then when you have a son or daught—"
He cuts me off saying, "No you idiot, I want it. Screw any kids I'm going to have. I want the glory of having a place in this compound."
"You can try."
"I don't want to work for it. I want to be like you, someone who just gets it."
"Then you have to deal with problems like this," I argue. I start to get worried, my hallway space it dwindling. "I'm hated and judged based on what my parents did."
"Everyone loved your mother. You wouldn't be hated...unless." I kick myself internally as I watch the bulb go off in Jack's head. "Parents? Both went here?"
My silence gives him confirmation.
He laughs loudly and shouts at me, "Isn't that great? You already have a place and you didn't have to do anything! The leaders already consider you their replacement when they go and die."
"Having a standard when you don't even know what's going on in your life is a hard thing to accomplish. It's not as fun as you think," I argue. I look back quickly and see I have maybe twenty feet of hallway before the end of the corridor.
"But now that you've established yourself, you can do anything you want. For example, not going to the fight in the arena!"
"I had something to do."
"You pampered little—" he curls his lip and advances towards me quickly.
I dodge his first punch and try to get away but he grabs my wrist and yanks me to the floor beside him. I start to scoot away but he shakes his head. He keeps a tight hold onto my wrist as he pulls me up from the floor and slams me into the wall.
I knee him in the stomach and he backs up a bit. He growls and I try to run away. He sticks his foot out just enough to trip me. I catch myself, but he also gets ahold of my wrist and keeps me from running. I stomp on his foot and he lets go of me. I start running into the first door of the arena. He curses and I head off walking as fast as I can. I search the crowd relentlessly for my group, but in my panicked state I can't find them.
This can't continue. I look back and see Jack is trying to look casual while following me. I stare into the crowd looking for any familiar faces. No one. They're all strangers as far as I can tell. I make eye contact with Jack and he curls his lip again in disgust. The crowd cheers as one of the kids in the center of the arena shoots his hands up in the air. How cute, he won.
I look back into the stands and search for Beast. Desperately, I need him right now. I look for Trish, for Shawn but see no one. "Give up," Jack says through the crowd's cheers. He knows I can hear him, "Give up and stop looking like a fool."
I feel someone's eyes on me and I look in the crowd. I meet the person's eyes and relief floods me. It's Beast. He frowns when he sees Jack behind me and realizes what's happening.
"Let's go!" Jack shoves me to the closest exit and I open the door so that I don't hit my head. We appear in the hallway again but I know Beast is coming out. I know my friends are coming. "This is what Royals like you do, huh? You get someone else to fight your fights."
"I don't want to fight," I reply softly, waiting for that door to open.
"So you get someone else?"
"Yeah, but someone who will make you back down and avoid a fight."
"He doesn't scare me."
I see the door swing open and Beast runs out quickly. His eyes fall onto Jack instantly and he moves to pull him away from me. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Talking with this lovely Royal."
"She's not a Royal," Trish replies sternly.
"She had parents here before. You only say she's not because you are one too." He points a finger at Shawn, "He's a Royal too, you spoiled little—"
"Why don't you just leave, Jack? This won't end well for you," Beast cuts him off.
"Oh shut it, Beast. You're only jealous because you didn't get a consistent family line. What? Feeling sad that your daddy won't visit you anymore?"
Jack's mockery makes Beast clench his fists.
"Leave," Trish warns. She knows what happens when Beast is challenged like that.
"No. You aren't the boss of me Royal!"
"You think it's so cool to have past family members that went here?" Trish shouts, "Try living when all people see in you is the failure of what they did. Try living with the fact that you'll never meet their standards of you."
"Try living knowing you aren't and good as others because of the family line you come from!"
"You're such a hypocrite!" Trish scoffs, "You think we got to choose the family we get? You're acting like we had a say in our relatives, when really we are just as random as you are."
Jack scoffs, "You know what, whatever. I'm done with you guys."
"Good," Shawn says.
"Shut it, kid. I'll hurt you if you don't," Jack threatens.
"No you won't. You won't even get to him by the time I'll be done with you."
"See you Royals later," Jack leaves.
Silence falls as we all watching him take his leave. Finally Trish turns back to us and says, "I kinda liked it better when he saw us as nobodies. It made things a lot easier."
Beast moves to me, "Are you alright?"
"Fine, he didn't hurt me or anything. I just needed to get to you...guys because I felt threatened."
"That's good. You came to us," Beast smiles.
I came to you, I think. I shake my head, "That wasn't the original reason though."
"What do you mean?" Trish asks.
"It's Flame. X is making his group leave tonight. I figured we should go say goodbye before he leaves for two weeks."
"I thought it was only one week."
"X must have extended the trip," Beast says and I nod. "Where is he?"
I think about where someone could go when heading the direction he went. I bring up an unfinished map of the compound in my mind. I plot where I saw Flame heading and say, "He was either heading to the front or the hallways near there."
"He's probably meeting in one of the rooms," Beast says.
"Come on, lets go find him," Trish says. We all start heading off to find our trainer.